Election 2018 Women Winners: First Muslim, Latina, Native American Elected To Congress

This year’s elections saw a record number of women running for office and smashing records. While 75 seats have already been won by women, they are also assured of victory in nine districts where they are the only major-party candidates. Over 230 women were on the general-election ballots in House races this time.

Some of the “firsts” to be elected to Congress include:

1. Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib and Somali-American Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women elected to the Congress after both Democrats won their congressional midterm 2018 races.

Omar won Michigan’s 5th Congressional District by defeating Jennifer Zielinski, a Republican, by securing 78.5 percent of the vote. She will replace Keith Ellison, himself the first Muslim elected to Congress. Omar fled from civil war in Somalia and arrived in the U.S. at the age of 14. Her political life began after attending local Democratic Farmer Labor party meetings with her grandfather. She called for Medicare for all, criminal justice reform and the increase of minimum wage during her campaign.

During her campaign, she faced Islamophobic attacks from conservative media outlets, who baselessly claimed she had ties to terrorists.

Tlaib, on the other hand, ran unopposed in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. She was also the first Muslim woman to serve in the Michigan state legislative. She was promoted to Democratic Chair of the House Appropriations Committee after serving three terms in the legislature. Tlaib will succeed Rep. John Conyers, who was forced to resign amid allegations of sexual misconduct in December.

Her campaign focused to secure a $15 minimum wage, stopping cuts to welfare programmes, preventing tax relief to large corporations, and debt-free college and vocational training. She also promised to work toward overturning the Muslim ban, securing LGBT rights and immigration reform.

2. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman in history to be elected to Congress by securing 78 percent votes. She defeated Republican Anthony Pappas to win New York's 14th Congressional District. She defeated 10-term Congressman Joseph Crowley in the House of Representatives in the June primary. Her campaign proposals included jobs guarantee, Medicare for all and also abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"This is not an end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning because the message that we sent the world tonight is that it's not OK to put donors before your community," she had said.

She was born in the Bronx, New York, to working-class parents. She earned degrees in Economics and International Relations from Boston University and while there, she handled foreign affairs under the late Sen. Kennedy. She then returned to the Bronx and began to pursue work in areas like education and community organizing and also started projects to help improve skills in young children.

3. Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland became the first Native American women to be elected to Congress. Haaland, a lawyer by profession, is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna and will replace Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham. She campaigned for tackling climate change and income inequality and providing universal healthcare.

"In 230 years, there’s never been a Native American woman in Congress. I have never seen myself in that body of our government,” she said in an interview with ABC news in June.

Davids, on the other hand, defeated Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder in the race for Kansas' third Congressional District. The win not only makes her the first Native American women to be elected to Congress but also the first lesbian to represent the state of Kansas. She is also the first female former professional Mixed Martial Artist to serve.

She is a lawyer by profession and worked as a White House fellow during the Obama-Trump transition. She ran for Congress and went on to beat five other Democrats in the August primary. She is a member of Ho-Chunk Nation, a Native American tribe in Wisconsin.

4. Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia also made history by becoming the first Latinas from Texas to represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Escobar won a seat to replace El Paso Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke. "I have always felt that elections aren’t about the person seeking office but about the ideas so it’s been hard for me to think about this election as being about me but the historic nature of the race has really hit home as I’ve knocked on doors and talked with voters," Escobar said, El Paso Times reported.

Garcia, meanwhile, won from the District 6 in the Texas Senate. The former social worker and lawyer defeated Republican challenger Phillip Aronoff in the heavily Democratic district.

“It’s very exciting to be elected and to have the opportunity to serve the working people of my district and Houston. I never focus on being the first, but on being the best for my people,” Garcia said, Chron reported.